U.S. stock futures little changed as Fed hints at more record highs

U.S. stock futures were little changed on Monday morning, as the major averages looked to extend the record highs of last week.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 14 points, or 0.04%, while S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.08% and 0.12%, respectively.

Both the Nasdaq Composite Index and the S&P 500 Index closed at record highs Friday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s Jackson Hole speech signaled that the central bank could start tapering later in the year, but that rate hikes were further out on the horizon.

In stocks, mega-cap tech stocks including Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. were all flirting with record highs after investors cheered the likelihood that interest rates would remain near zero for the foreseeable future.

ExxonMobil Corp. and Marathon Petroleum Co. were among the oil companies in focus after 95% of oil and gas production was halted due to Hurricane Ida, which made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 4 storm. West Texas Intermediate crude oil was trading down 33 cents at $68.41 a barrel while RBOB gasoline was up 4.17 cents to $2,031 per gallon.

Elsewhere, Affirm Holdings Inc. shares were on track for the best day ever after the buy now, pay later company said its service will be made available to some Amazon.com Inc. customers.

Shares of satellite communications provider Globalstar Inc. soared after a report said Apple's new iPhone, expected to arrive in September, will be equipped with satellite communications.

Meanwhile, an additional 1 million shots of Moderna Inc. s COVID 19 vaccine were put on hold in Japan after more contaminated batches were discovered and two people died. In total, about 2.6 million vaccine have been banned in the country.

Zoom Video Communications Inc. and Cloudera In. can submit their quarterly results on Monday for the closing bell of the regular business meeting.

In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 increased 0.32% as Germany's CAC 40 and France's DAX 30 gained 0.17%.

Hong Kong's Nikkei 225 paced the advance in Asia, rising 0.54% while China's Hang Seng Index jumped 0.52% and Japan's Shanghai Composite gained 0.17%.